Nitrogen uptake and utilization in advanced fresh‐market red potato breeding lines

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production on sandy soils requires added N. Only 40–60% of the applied N is acquired by crop. Increased use efficiency (NUE) and its components, utilization (NUtE) uptake (NUpE), could reduce fertilizer rates environmental losses. We compared in fresh-market red potato varieties, terms yield quality traits, examined potential mechanisms for that including uptake, utilization, increased root growth. grew selections from a breeding population commercial varieties under two rates: 101 202 kg ha−1. NUE, NUpE, NUtE low high phenotypes at tuber initiation skin metrics harvest. Values correlated with NUE NUpE Low-N conditions produced smaller tubers, while resulted primarily medium tubers. Nitrogen did not affect skinning redness but result slightly lighter color. Total mass 45 d after planting (DAP) final correlate measures across treatments. Larger roots only high-N treatment. Selection may reveal expose more stable representations genetic components phenotypes. While color were variable among N, within variety they exhibited year-to-year consistency.